SoftBank posts loss as Vision Fund in the red for fourth straight quarter By Reuters

TOKYO (Reuters) -SoftBank Group Corp on Tuesday booked a net loss for October-December, with its giant Vision Fund investment unit staying in the red for the fourth straight quarter as tech portfolio valuations have yet to recover from a global sell-off.

The Vision Fund’s investment loss came to 730.36 billion yen ($5.52 billion) in the latest quarter, on top of the combined loss of 7.3 trillion yen during the first nine months of 2022.

At SoftBank itself, the net loss totalled 783.42 billion yen, compared with a 29.05 billion yen profit a year earlier.

The net loss for October-December was a sharp turnaround from a 3 trillion yen profit SoftBank reported for July-September, when its quarterly earnings were buoyed by paring some of its stake in China’s Alibaba (NYSE:) Group Holding.

SoftBank founder and chief executive Masayoshi Son invested heavily in artificial intelligence and other high-tech startups through its Vision Fund unit in recent years, helping the company post a record profit for the year to March 2021.

But the Vision Fund’s performance was battered by a global tech rout last year amid rising interest rates, tensions between the United States and China, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, prompting Son to radically scale back investment activity.

($1 = 132.2200 yen)